Lopeholt
by Cordria
Summary: Happy Halloween! It's the third scariest place on Earth and Valerie has to survive the night. Can she pull it off?
1. Athens, Ohio

_Edited 10/2010_

_**Warning:** rated 'T' for horror. Don't read late at night. ;)  
_

* * *

**Lopeholt**  
A Danny Phantom FanFic by Cordria

* * *

Chapter 1: Athens, Ohio

* * *

_True fact: _

_Athens is a real town in Ohio. It has been given the dubious distinction of one of the scariest places on Earth as well as being named the third most haunted town in the world. There have been numerous television shows dealing with the demon-like spirits that seem to haunt the greater Athens area._

_The facts, as presented in this story, are all true._

_

* * *

_

Athens, Ohio. It was a small city about seventy-five miles southeast of Columbus. Home to Ohio University and about twenty thousand people, it was an up-and-coming area with beautiful scenery and surrounding countryside. Athens was an ideal place to raise children… until a certain family stepped out of their tricked-out RV. Whatever mockery of 'ideal America' the town had managed to pull over it's muddled past was forever shattered by one blazing orange jumpsuit and a heartily bellowed, "Come on!"

I scowled and sank deeper into the seat, wondering if I could take back my promise to come on this insane vacation. It was already turning into a horrifying experience and we hadn't even gotten out of the RV yet. Danny glanced over at me and smirked, unbuckling his seat belt and slipping out the door. "You agreed to come," he said over his shoulder.

Shooting an annoyed glance at Tucker, I sighed and finally levered myself out of the car. "You promised that there would be ghosts," I grumbled, crossing my arms and glaring around the picturesque town. "The third most haunted place on Earth, you said." I gestured at the gleaming buildings. "This sure doesn't fit the mental image."

He shrugged. "Give it a few minutes, Val. You can't judge a book… or however that goes."

Tucker jumped out of the RV and grinned, stretching his arms over his head. "Yeah, Val, Fenton vacations always manage to blow up the idea of 'normal'. If we don't see at least one ghost by tomorrow, the world has probably stopped turning."

"Of course there will be ghosts!" Mr. Fenton suddenly said in my ear, clapping a hand on my shoulder and making my heart skip a beat or two. "We're going to visit The Ridges, Wilson Hall, and some of the cemeteries. There's the story of that woman…"

"Thanks, Dad," Danny interrupted, "but we heard the story on the way here."

"Four separate times," Tucker added darkly under his breath before shooting me a grin. "You'll get used to it… he's just a little excited about having someone new to blather to."

"Yeah," Danny said with a chuckle, grabbing my hand and dragging me away from his brightly colored family, "excited. That's what he is."

I laughed. "So, it's just you, me, the geek, the sister, and the parents for the weekend. This will be a blast. Maybe see a few ghosts, break up a few hauntings, and save all of reality from the wrath of evil." When a strange, distressed look crossed Danny's face, I couldn't help my grin.

"Not again," Tucker whispered, crossing his fingers and squeezing his eyes shut. "Please, please, not again."

I glanced over at him in confusion, wondering what he was muttering about, but Danny whapped Tucker on the back of his head and grabbed a piece of paper out of his pocket. "Shut it. First stop is the hotel to check in…" we all looked up at the small, ratty motel his parents had decided upon, "okay… that doesn't look promising… and then we go check out The Ridges tonight, Wilson hall tomorrow night, and the five cemeteries before we leave on Sunday."

Tucker moaned. "Why is it always _nights_? Why not noon? Or, maybe, 2:30 in the afternoon. Nothing bad ever happens at 2:30 in the afternoon. This is just _asking_ for our brand of trouble."

I squinted at Danny and Tucker for a moment, trying to figure out what they meant by _not again_ and _shut it_, but decided it probably wasn't any of my business. _You're not here to pick apart their secret; you're here to hunt ghosts with two world famous ghost hunters. Focus, Val. _Switching my gaze to the motel, I took in the dusty, flaking paint. "All the better to see ghosts," I said before heading around the RV to grab my backpack. "That's the point, isn't it?"

Both of them stared at me for a long time without answering.

"You can't really blame her for being so innocent," Tucker said to Danny after a moment, "she's never been on a Fenton family vacation before."

Danny nodded, but not before glancing over his shoulder into the slowly gathering darkness and shivering. "Yeah…" he agreed distractedly.

I pushed past them, hurrying to catch up with Danny's sister. The two of us were bunking together at the motel and I wanted the bed closer to the widow just in case I had to leave in the middle of the night to do my 'job'.

Behind me, Tucker sighed. "I know that look in your eyes, Danny. Sam's going to end up being lucky one on this trip."

"Shadow broke her leg, Tucker. How's that lucky?"

"Bet you a week's worth of homework that by the end of this, you'll admit that Sam was the lucky one."

There was a long moment of silence. "I don't take stupid bets, Tucker."

The door to the run-down motel jingled as I pushed it open, drowning out anything else the two boys might have said.

* * *

_True fact:_

_In the area of Athens, Ohio, there are five cemeteries. These cemeteries are really nothing to look at individually – they are just places to bury the dead. But when seen from a witch's perspective (from the air), the cemeteries form a pattern. Connecting the five locations forms a nearly perfect pentagram. _

_Travel to the exact center of this spiritual symbol and you will find yourself in the center of the town of Athens – Ohio State University. Home to 'Wilson Hall' and one of the most bizarre haunting/suicide stories in history._

_

* * *

_

I followed Mr. Fenton up the path, staring at the humongous building with butterflies fluttering in my stomach. An ancient Victorian building made up of millions of bricks, its three stories loomed over us in the darkening evening. Black windows gazed into the cloudless night with a quiet intensity that sent chills up my back.

I'm a ghost hunter – I've seen some of the worst that Amity Park can throw at me. But this place was just… downright creepy. Something was very wrong here. All of the hairs on my arms rose at some strange chill in the air.

"The Ridges," Mrs. Fenton said happily, then broke off, sending Danny a weird look. Danny was staring up at the building with wide eyes. He shivered a bit, then blinked before a forced smile appeared on his face.

For a second, I just continued to watch him. I didn't buy the smile one bit. Danny was pale, his eyes had an element of terror to them, and his muscles were tense. But his mom just smiled and continued up the path.

I'd _kill_ for my dad to be that oblivious. _Danny's so lucky._

Tucker poked Danny in the arm and whispered, "What's wrong?"

"Same-old," Danny whispered back, shooting a glance up at the old building. "The entire place is haunted. And they aren't going to be nice ghosts either."

Jazz appeared out of the shadows, clicking her flashlight on and off to check the batteries and fiddling with her walkie-talkie. "Stupid ghosts, stupid family trip, stupid haunting, stupid…" she looked up, blinking at me with a smile before fixing on her brother's pale face and stopping dead in her tracks. "Danny?"

The siblings exchanged a loaded look and I felt out of the loop… again. Ever since I'd joined Danny's trio of friends, this happened over and over and over again. They all knew something they didn't want to tell me. The only thing I'd figured out so far was that it had _something_ to do with ghosts.

For some reason I couldn't quite place my finger on, seeing them all react like that made my stomach do a small flip. Very few things phased me anymore, but these three were making me feel like I was hunting my first ghost again – both terrified and excited at the same time. The hairs on the back of my neck rose suddenly and I shot a glance over my shoulder towards the building looming at the top of the hill.

There was nothing there. The watch on my wrist wasn't reacting to anything.

A breath slipped out of my lungs and I forced myself to turn back towards the other teenagers, putting my back to The Ridges. I could feel the building fix its gaze between my shoulder blades and it took almost all my will power not to twist around and glare back in defiance.

Jazz, Tucker, and Danny weren't following the Fentons up towards the darkened building. Instead, the three of them clustered closer together on the shadowed walkway, a similar foreboding look on each of their faces. "We don't have to go in," Jazz muttered softly.

"It's just a ghost…" Danny added under his breath.

"Nah, if it was just a ghost you wouldn't be so pale," Tucker whispered. "This is something else."

I shook my head, turning away from them and heading towards the ancient building. Their expressions weren't helping the chilled and paranoid feelings that were snaking around in my stomach. I wasn't going to listen to their groundless ramblings – it would only make those feelings worse. I hadn't come this far to turn back now. I was going in that building.

I took a deep breath and a few quick steps in an attempt to catch up to Danny's parents, but something flickered at the edge of my vision and I looked up at the building. Nothing looked different. The darkened windows were still empty, several panes of glass glittering brokenly in the wane moonlight, and the trees waved skeleton-like fingers into the star-speckled sky. I hesitated for a moment as I studied the old asylum, the slight wind whispering in my ears and carrying the echoing sounds of the insane.

I shared Danny's shiver. This place was _definitely_ haunted. Butterflies in my stomach caused my palms to start to sweat and I had to rub them on my leg, an unconscious smile appearing on my face. I could already feel the adrenaline starting to rush through my-

_What was that?_

Squinting up at a tiny window on the third floor, I hesitated. The window was empty. I took a small step forwards, my eyes narrowing further. I could have sworn I saw a person standing up there, staring down at us, robed in white with short hair.

A hand suddenly grabbed my arm and I flinched in surprise, laughing softly when I noticed that my own hand had crept up unannounced to rub my other arm. "I'm not scared," I informed my arms, quietly berating them for doing something without telling me. I pushed them back down to my sides.

My eyes flickered back up the window, once again catching the glimmer of some kind of presence up there. It wasn't human, that much I was pretty sure. I tipped my chin up and clenched my hands by my sides, glaring up at the building. "Valerie Grey is not scared of some stupid ghost."

A sharp click behind me made me jump, almost smashing into Danny. I blushed as he steadied me with a pale-faced grin. We both listened to his father take the key back out of the lock and push open the heavy front door with a creak. "This is a bad idea," Danny murmured to himself, his eyes seeming to glow in the encroaching shadows, "these ghosts are not happy."

Just for a second, _just for one measly little second_, I thought about mentioning that we didn't have to go in. The little hairs on my arms were standing on end and the haunted look in Danny's blue eyes was almost creepier than the building itself. But I changed the words right before they slipped out of my mouth and into the freezing air – Valerie Grey doesn't get scared of a building just because it has a ghost or two in it. "They're just ghosts, we can handle them."

Danny, Tucker, and Jazz all raised an eyebrow and shook their heads in disbelief. "Some ghosts," Danny said softly, "should just be left alone."

"Forty-six degrees Fahrenheit," Mrs. Fenton said, reading off of her thermometer. "That's the ambient temperature of the air tonight, so we'll use that as the baseline and look for cold spots statistically different than that…" her eyes squinted a little, apparently doing math her head, "so check for places under forty degrees."

"Three teams," Mr. Fenton jumped in, his face alight as he flipped a switch on the wall. Half of the overhead lights blazed into existence and flooded us with harsh light and sharp shadows. "Just like we planned. We'll meet back up here in two hours. Let's go!"

"Wait," Mrs. Fenton grabbed a handful of her husband's jumpsuit and smiled at his pouting face, "walkie-talkies are for communication, I expect to hear from each of you every fifteen minutes at the most. This place is old and not kept up, so if a sign says to stay out of a place, stay out. Don't do anything _stupid_," she hesitated to shoot Danny and Tucker a glare, "and get us some good evidence. Have fun!"

It took a whole of five seconds for the two eldest Fentons to vanish through a shadowed doorway. Danny, Tucker, and Jazz exchanged another loaded look. "Um… we don't have to split up," Tucker finally said.

"It'll take twice as long to get through our sections then," Jazz complained, glancing over her shoulder. "I say get in, get it done, and get back out. Danny? What should we do?"

Danny tipped his head to the side, thinking, then turned to look at me. "What do you think we should do, Val?"

"Me?" I blinked.

"You wanted to go ghost hunting," he half-smiled before looking around the room and tensing a little more. I could almost feel the stress flowing off Danny's body. "What do you think we should do?"

He looked over and met my eyes and I cut off the words that were about to jump into my throat. Danny's eyes were a dark, haunted blue, but some trick of the lights was causing strange motes of glowing green to flare in his irises. It was eerie. My breath caught in my lungs for a half-second before I let it all out in a frustrated huff. "Let's split up and do this thing."

I pulled out a piece of equipment the Fentons had shoved at me, taking a second to realize it was an EMF reader. I turned it over twice, searching for the 'on' switch, before Danny pulled it out of my hands and pressed a button. He handed it back, the screen glowing faintly and numbers starting to run together.

"Two votes to split up, one to stay together." Danny nodded, grabbing a flashlight out of his pocket and gesturing towards the stairs. "Majority wins. Jazz and Tucker get the upstairs, Val and I'll take the basement." He grabbed my arm and propelled me across the small space.

"But you didn't vote," Jazz called as we rounded a corner. "_DANNY!"_

I followed him for a quiet for moments, both of us intent on finding the stairs that lead to the basement. Our shoes sounded loud against the wooden floor, sharp-edged shadows chasing ahead of us and falling behind us as we passed under rows of buzzing lights. "Why didn't you vote?"

"Choose between my sister and my best friend? Are you kidding?" He tried to grin, but it wasn't a real smile and it looked out of place on his pale face. "If you must know, my vote is to leave right now. This place is…" He trailed off, staring down the long hallway with a dubious look on his face.

Something brushed against the back of my neck and I turned around, walking backwards for a moment. There was nothing there. I squinted, studying the long hallway with its dozens of doors heading off into the unknown, unable to stop myself from wondering what demons hid behind those solid wood portals. "Then why did you vote to stay?" I asked. I took another step backwards, but Danny had apparently stopped. I stepped into him into him and started to tip over, but he grabbed my arm and held me steady.

"Look," he flipped on his flashlight and shined it at the wall, completely ignoring my question. His light illuminated a water-damaged and moldy poster. "The Ridges: formerly the Athens Lunatic Asylum. Established 1873, shut down 1979."

I wrinkled my nose at a sour smell that suddenly drifted through the stale air. Overhead, the lights flickered.

"An entire building full of insane, vengeful, and demonic spirits." Danny flicked his flashlight back off and let out a deep breath. "Tucker was right about this stupid vacation."

* * *

_True fact:_

_The ancient building now known as The Ridges was once the Athens Lunatic Asylum. This building was once a regular stop for a physician that used extreme medical practices. Nick-named 'Dr. Lobotomy', he was quite well known for trying radical brain surgery on the patients._

_It didn't take long to plunge a probe into a head, mangle around the gray matter a little, and see what happened. It was unfortunate that a lot of the patients died in the process._

_

* * *

_

I put my foot on the ancient steps, my breath fogging in the air. The farther we got into the building, the colder it seemed to be getting. I licked my lips and let out a shaky breath before straightening my spine and clenching my teeth, steadying myself. "Come on, Danny, it's not so bad. They're just ghosts."

Danny just sent me a small glare and curled his arms a little tighter around himself. That eerie illusion of the lights in his eyes was back, emerald fireworks flaring against a troubled blue background. "Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea," he muttered softly, one for each time his foot settled onto the dusty steps, leading the way into the pitch-black basement.

I felt myself unconscious echoing his _bad idea bad idea bad idea_ as my feet hit the steps and I scowled, shaking my head. "If you think this is such a bad idea, why come in? I'm sure you could have stayed in the car."

"The whole town is freaking haunted by _something_," he said darkly. "Staying in the car _by myself _on a night like this wouldn't have been any better."

"Knock it off," I whispered, more to myself than to Danny. His paranoia and fear were almost palpable – and worse, apparently catchy. My nerves were on edge and the butterflies in my stomach were fluttering more wildly than I'd ever felt them before. For the first time in my career as a ghost hunter, I actually felt the desire to just _leave_.

Something brushed against my hair and I twisted around, scanning the empty space behind me, my heart jumping a bit. It lodged itself someplace halfway between my throat and where my heart normally rested and I had to swallow hard to force it back to where it belonged. There was nothing behind me. A glance at the ghost detector on my watch showed there were no ghosts.

I breathed out slowly and turned back around, trying to put the incident out of my head. When we reached the bottom of the shadowed stairs, Danny reached over a flicked a light switch, a few of the overhead lights flickering and then buzzing to life. They illuminated twin rows of partly-opened door that lead into blackness, thick layers of dust and cobwebs strung the hallway like holiday garland, and flickering shadows of forgotten objects still strewn on the floor. "Wow," I whispered, "it's a perfect haunt for a phantom."

"Not on your life," Danny breathed softly.

I shot him a look before grabbing my flashlight and heading towards the nearest door. The door had a faded '6' painted above a small, glass-free window with iron bars and a dark stain around the doorknob from decades of use. "Come on – let's get those readings for your parents."

He muttered something I couldn't catch, but he followed a step behind me and yanked some equipment out of his backpack, fiddling with buttons. I pushed open the door to room six and stared into the dark shadows. A shiver ran up my spine as a fresh wave of cold air breathed over me and my imagination started to run away without me.

_Anything could be lurking in the darkness. Axe murders, zombies, blood-deprived vampires, lost lunatics, a demonic ghost…_

Flicking on my flashlight, I played it quickly over the room, stifling my brain before it could do any more damage. The room was empty, except for some iron shackles bolted to one of the walls and a cracked mirror above a broken sink. I took a deep breath and forced my nerves to calm down. _There's nothing here. Stop that. There's nothing in this room – it's just an empty building with a few ghosts in it._

"Temperature," Danny muttered, slipping around me to shine the laser into the room, "thirty-six degrees." He glanced over at me as his breath fogged in the air, his forehead wrinkling in concern. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," I said sourly, backing back out of the room and fighting to keep from shivering again. I crossed my arms tightly, glaring into the infinite blackness that was hiding behind the door. _The room is empty, stop it_. Despite my own thoughts, I couldn't tear my eyes away from the door, feeling this odd sense of dread boiling in my stomach. My fingers curled tighter around my arms and I focused on breathing slowly and steadily, controlling my fear.

"Val?" Danny asked and I flinched at the sound, looking up at him.

My eyes were drawn past him, down the dismal hallway, mindlessly counting the doors that seemed to stretch into oblivion. "Do we have to look in all those doors?" My voice squeaked and I scowled darkly. My eyes flicked back to the door I'd pushed open. It was slowly drifting shut again on its own and I suddenly gripped with the desire to rush over and push it back open, shining my flashlight in and making sure it was still empty.

Cold suddenly swirled around me like a demonic hand, brushing at the back of my neck and pressing its lips against my cheek. Goosebumps ran up my arms and I felt my knees weaken.

"Not all of them." Danny's voice was quiet and strained. "Actually, I think we've got enough readings. Let's just go back upstairs."

My feet wouldn't move. My eyes darted from the doorway in front of me to the large expanse of hallway to my left and then towards the shadowed stairway on my right. I suddenly felt cornered… trapped… attacked… "What's going on?" I rasped.

"Val… Valerie…" he licked his lips, dropping his thermometer with a painfully loud clatter and wrapping his arms around his chest. "We need to leave. They don't want…" His eyes were wide and frightened as he stared down the hallway.

"I can't." It came out as a pitiful whisper. Something cold brushed past me and I screamed, my wide eyes trying to see in every direction at once. But still my feet wouldn't move. I couldn't even get my hands to move.

A door slammed far away in the deserted hallway and a bunch of shadows dropped from the ceiling. Bats – dozens of small bats – shrieked in anger and they flooded down the corridor and blasted past us. I slammed my eyes shut, unwilling to see what was going on. I wanted to run… but I couldn't… I just…

"Danny?"

I cracked one eye open. Then the other. Then I spun around, my hand jumping to my mouth in horror.

I was alone.

With whatever ghost was out there.


	2. The Ridges

_Edited 10/2010_

_**Warning:** rated 'T' for horror. Don't read late at night. ;)  
_

* * *

**Lopeholt**  
A Danny Phantom FanFic by Cordria

* * *

Chapter 2: The Ridges

* * *

_True fact: _

_When The Ridges officially closed in 1979, all the patients were transferred… except one. One woman went missing and numerous attempts to locate her failed. _

_She was dead when she was found quite a while later, naked, her clothes folded neatly on the windowsill. Beneath her body was a bizarre imprint of her form on the floor. Even today, you can see her outline on the old wooden floor. She is reported to still regularly appear in the window, staring down at all trespassers of her domain. _

_

* * *

_

My breath caught in my throat and I took a tiny step backwards, my breath pluming in the air when it finally made it past my lips. My arms felt like they were being pulled backwards, caught in a straightjacket, and my ribs were starting to hurt from how tightly my arms were wrapped around me. "D-Danny?" I tried to call, but my words failed to escape the tight confines of my throat.

Eyes trying to dart everywhere at once, I licked my lips and tried to think rationally. I was, for some reason, terrified to the point of being frozen in place. _Valerie Grey does not freeze – she fights_. I focused on that thought, whispering, "Whoever's doing this to me, I'm not afraid of you."

The dark shadows loomed over me, seeming to lean in, pressing my nightmares into the depths my brain. The over-reaching fear reached right into the primitive part of my brain and touched the darkest piece of me. A tiny scream slipped out from between my lips. "Stop it," I hissed, but my voice cracked and made the words impossible to understand.

A moan swirled through the darkness. It wasn't a moan of pain; it was a hungry, horrifying moan that made my toes curl and my guts clench. I jerked, staring at the darkened doorway, the buzzing florescent light above my head illuminating nothing behind that hell-bent portal.

In fact, the dim lights in the hallway seemed to make the yawning gap darker than I ever would have thought possible.

The moaning came again, followed by a glimmer of red eyes just beyond the doorway. They blazed a bloody, swirling red, and they didn't seemed to be focused on me. They felt like they were peering straight in my soul.

A wall suddenly pressed into my back and I flinched, surprised to find that I'd been backing away from the doorway and the eyes. My own eyes were wide as panic started to overtake what was left of my mind, unable to wrench my gaze away from the twin points of red flashing in the darkness.

My foot touched the flashlight Danny had dropped, still rolling slightly back towards the stairs, and I slowly squatted down to pick it up. Hand shaking uncontrollably, I pointed the flashlight towards the doorway. The bloody eyes narrowed, a ghoulish mouth appearing underneath them, open and yawning its sharp teeth at me-

I flicked on the light, flinching away from the sight I was sure was going to greet my eyes. A dead moldy corpse, bones sticking out everywhere, pieces of its head missing, a wide gaping mouth full of rotting teeth…

Danny pulled a hand up, blocking his eyes from the light I was shining at him and muttering under his breath. His white shirt shone brightly in the darkness, his black hair disappearing into the shadows. Barely taking the time to focus on him, my gaze darted around the room behind him, searching for the source of the gleaming red eyes. _Empty_.

"Danny?" I pushed myself off the wall, glancing back up and down the hallway. My heart was still pounding loudly in my ears and my arms were trembling. I glanced down at my watch – there were no ghosts around. _There's nothing here, stop this Val_. "Danny, are you okay?"

"Save them," he muttered quietly, still rubbing his eyes against the light.

"I think," I said as I lowered the bright beam of the flashlight, glancing over my shoulder once before turning back to him, "we need to get-"

Words died in my throat as the lights in the hallway suddenly cut out, leaving us illuminated by nothing but the flashlight in my hands. I squinted up at the shadow-covered ceiling, then I looked down and stared into Danny's eyes.

They were a haunting, piercing, insane, _red_.

"Danny?" I whispered.

"I saved the insane," he breathed, an insane smile twisting his face as he took a clumsy step out of the shadows of the room and into the hallway. "I drilled holes in their heads to let the crazy out, I saved them."

I backed away from him, edging towards the stairs. "Danny…" I shot a glance over my shoulder to find the stairs, and when I turned back Danny had moved an impossible distance, those bloody eyes inches from mine, his nose so close I could almost feel it. My heart froze in my chest, my whole body trembling for a rush of adrenaline.

"I _saved them!_" he shrieked, "Don't you understand? I'm _not_ a monster – I _SAVED THEM!"_

I scrambled backwards, tripping over a dropped piece of equipment and sprawling on my back on the ground, the flashlight tumbling out of my grip and rolling. Terror stealing the breath from my lungs, I poked frantically at my brain, trying to come up with a plan. _You're a freaking ghost hunter! Do something! _

Danny took a menacing step forwards, his bangs eerily throwing his face into shadows and making his red eyes gleam demonically. "I saved them," he murmured, "and I'll save you too. I'll drill a hole in your head and you can forget about the dark and the bats and the ghosts and the fear. No more fear…" One of his hands came out from behind his back, showing off the long, rusty piece of metal he'd been holding. "I'm going to drill out your brains, girl. Hold still."

I couldn't move as he took another step, leaning over me with the piece of metal held up and ready to plunge into my head. "No!" The word was jolted from my body as my fighting reflexes finally kicked in. I curled my legs up to my chest then pushed out hard with my feet. My heels slammed into Danny's chest, the momentum and power in my legs sending him crashing into a wall before tumbling to the ground.

"Damn it!" I stumbled to my feet and took off towards the stairs, the light of the forgotten flashlight making my shadow dance in front of me. The harsh lights from the first floor illuminated the stairs, calling to me.

"Save you," a voice rasped behind me. "Save you, save you, save you…"

I was just a few moments from reaching the steps when another shadow joined mine, dancing on the stairs. Glancing back, I saw a dark shape chasing after me with long, bounding grace, demonic eyes focused on me. My foot hit the bottom stair, almost tripping me, and I twisted my focus back to the front, dashing up the stairs three at a time. "Damn it, damn it, damn it," I breathed as my feet slammed into the steps, praying to all the gods I'd ever heard of not to slip.

"Save you." Warm-cold breath brushed against the back of my neck and I had enough time for a startled _CRAP!_ before two freezing hands wrapped themselves around my neck. Danny's lean bulk slammed into my back and my feet lost their purchase on the slick steps. I crashed over the top step, Danny lost his grip, and we both rolled to a stop on the first floor.

I was back on my feet almost before we'd stopped moving, the shin of my right leg shooting sharp pains up and down my spine. My muscles tensed to run, but I hesitated.

The over-riding fear, that horrible terror that had clogged up my brain and made it impossible for me to think… it was gone as suddenly as it has shone up.

"Danny?" I asked softly, gazing down at my friend. The rusted piece of metal he'd been trying to lodge into my brain was lying just beyond his outstretched fingers. I took a small step towards him, licking my dry lips, struggling to get my heart to start beating at a normal speed again. "Danny?"

He groaned and rolled over, his blue eyes flickering open and staring at me. "Val?" he moaned, rubbing at his head.

Glancing back at the stairs, I took a cautious step towards him. "Are you alright?"

He blinked up at me in confusion for a moment, pushing himself to a sitting position and looking around. "Where… what…" Then his gaze fell on the rusty metal pole and he suddenly jerked away from it. "The _hell_!" he cursed, crab-walking backwards a bit before finally getting to his feet.

I stayed back a bit as he rubbed at his pale face. My stomach was settling down, my breathing slowing. "I think you were possessed," I whispered.

"Yeah," he breathed, letting his hands fall to his side. He was still staring down at the rusted metal, an unreadable look to his eyes. "That's enough ghost hunting for tonight, I think. Let's call Tucker and my parents…"

"Um…" I cut in, glancing down into the dark basement. A lonely light glittered up from the depths, illuminating the shadowy forms of the two backpacks lying at the bottom of stairs. I could see the walkie-talkies stuffed into the side pockets. "After you?"

Scowling at me, he stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Let's go find them and tell them in person," he muttered darkly. "I want out of here." His eyes flickered down to the rusted metal and a wave of _longing_ appeared on his face.

My eyes narrowed, but he twisted around on his heel and stalked off down the first floor hallway before I could try to figure out what had crossed his mind. I watched him walk for a moment before a chill swirled down my spine. Glancing over my shoulder one last time at the dark recesses of the basement, I hurried after him.

The rusted metal stayed on the floor, empty and cold.

* * *

I trailed behind Danny as he walked slowly up the steps to the third floor of the condemned building. The old, wooden stairs creaked under his weight, the lights overhead casting dark shadows and making the view through the small windows impossible to make out.

My heart was still pounding from the scare downstairs, my eyes still flickering warily from Danny to the darkness pressing around us and back to Danny. It wasn't that I didn't trust him and it wasn't that I still thought he might be possessed, but every time I looked away, my heart did this odd dancing beat and I found my eyes drawn back to him. For some reason, I felt _safer_ when he was within sight.

Danny had looked more scary than at all necessary and my mind couldn't quite drag those red eyes out of my thoughts. I'd seen possessed people before and they'd always had a feeling of wrongness about them – more of a puppet being controlled than a master. But Danny had held it perfectly, carried it within him, and had embodied the… whatever it had been… in a way I'd never seen before.

We stepped out onto the third floor, the old wooden floor creaking under our shoes. Only a few of the forgotten lights were lit, casting pointy shadows and creating huge masses of pure blackness. Doors lined the long hallway and lead into small rooms that were dark pools of oblivion.

I shivered and let out a slow breath, letting it twist into a soft chuckle when I heard Danny heave a similar sigh right next to me. "Now what?" I asked, glancing down at my water. It still wasn't showing any signs of ghosts… but then again, it hadn't all night either.

"This is like some bad horror movie," Danny muttered darkly. He raised his voice. "Jazz? Tuck?" The names echoed eerily through the hallways and came back at us as a distant whisper. Lifting an eyebrow, he glanced over at me. "Well?"

Just for a split second, Danny's eyes gleamed an insane red. I froze, staring at him, but it was gone before I even really saw it. He tipped his head to the side, his eyes narrowing in confusion, and I shook my head. "After you," I breathed, struggling to push the image out of my mind.

I had to have imagined it. There was no way Danny was still possessed. He was acting too _normal _right now to be possessed.

He sighed and started the walk towards the bend in the hallway, his body tense and his head constantly moving. Hurrying past the slightly open doorways, he was quite a distance down the hallway before I finally got my feet moving. With one last glance over my shoulder at the shadow-filled stairwell, I followed him.

As each darkened doorway slipped past with nothing happening, I felt my confidence returning. I breathed in and out slowly, unconsciously counting out the meditative pattern I'd learned years earlier. I shook out one hand as we travelled through the first pool of black, barely able to see my feet, and felt the muscles in my arms loosen. The unnerving fear I'd felt in the basement was letting go.

But that's when I felt something. I hesitated between steps when I was near door 37, shooting a look over my shoulder. The little hairs on the back of my neck were starting to stand up, the eerie feeling of being watched curling into my brain. "Danny?"

"What?"

I turned around. Danny had stopped in a pool of light, looking at me with haunted blue eyes. "Do you feel that?"

A look of annoyance flickered onto his face. "'_That'_ is a little vague."

"It's like I'm being watched," I said softly, curling my fingers into a fist. "But my…" I trailed off and glanced down at my watch, licking my lips. I was _pretty_ sure Danny had a guess that I was the ghost hunter in red – he'd basically told me he knew when he invited me along on this crazy vacation – but I still wasn't positive. And I wasn't sure I wanted him to know if he hadn't already figured it out.

"Your watch isn't going off," Danny finished for me. He looked around the hallway, the harsh overhead light making his bangs cast evil-looking shadows across his face. Then he laughed.

It wasn't much of a laugh, it was more of a sad chuckle, but I still tensed. After the adrenaline rush of the basement and the creepy feeling of being watched, my emotions were too near the surface. "I don't think this is funny," I snapped.

He stopped laughing, shaking his head. "I don't either, Val. But here's something you don't get: not all ghosts are the same." He stuffed his hands in his pockets, but then seemed to think better of it and took them back out, rubbing them together nervously. "Your ghost stuff works really good at tracking one kind of ghost. My parents' ghost stuff works good at tracking a few kinds. But there are a whole lot more out there."

I stared at him, watching him gaze at me, before the tickling at the back of my neck grew. I glanced over my shoulder with a narrowed gaze. "What's staring at me?" I asked.

"I don't have a clue," he answered, sounding honest, "and I'm pretty sure I don't _want_ to know. But I can tell you that compared to the basement, compared to some of the other things I think are in here, it's not something to worry about. Come on, let's find someone and get out of here."

He turned and started up the hallway again even as I opened my mouth to ask another question. I'd known that Danny knew more about ghosts than he let on, but he sounded like he really understood all this stuff just then. "Hey," I said, stepping after him, "but then why-"

I cut off as I stepped into a cold spot, my breath suddenly fogging the air in front of me. Hesitating, I glanced around, then down at my watch. Still no ghost alarm. I shook it, shooting my gaze around the nearly deserted hallway before I brought it to my ear. I waited for the reassuring _ticking_ noise before I remembered digital watches don't tick. _Your ghost stuff works really good at tracking one kind of ghost._

Letting my arm drop to my side, my eye caught a slight movement and I flinched, twisting to glare at the movement. A cracked, full-length mirror was sitting on the floor, my own pale, wide-eyed reflection staring back at me. I let a small chuckle slip from between my lips.

I moved to follow Danny, but my eyes drifted one last time to my cracked reflection. Only this time, something had changed. Over my shoulder hovered the face of an old woman, her short white hair sticking away from her head in insane angles, her blood-red eyes focused on me. Startled, I gasped in a breath of air and backpedaled away from the mirror.

The woman in the mirror laughed silently. I twirled around in a circle, but there was nothing there. The only place I could see the woman was in the mirror. "Ghost," I hissed softly, reaching for my backpack – only to remember it was in the basement, along with most of my ghost hunting equipment. With the realization I was a lot more defenseless than I wanted to be, I felt a tremor of fear grab at my heart.

Footsteps echoed through the hallways, greeting my ears like an offbeat drum line. Voices whispered, talking about medication and shock therapy and crazy people, and I felt something cold trail up my arm. "Get away from me!" I snapped, terrified and furious, as a breeze curled down the abandoned hallway, tousling my hair. The woman in the mirror reached out for my reflection, and I felt her fingers slide into my hair, wrapping strands around invisible fists.

"Valerie."

Danny's voice cut through the supernatural and I felt everything die away, leaving me alone. The image in the mirror was gone, replaced by my own pale face. My hands were trembling and my knees felt weak. "What was that?" I whispered.

"You're in over your heads, we need to get out of here," he said softly, walking forwards to grab my hand and pull me along. "We need to go find Tucker and Jazz."

I resisted. "I want to know what's going on," I said, my eyes starting to burn. When Danny shook his head and pulled a little harder, I yanked my hand out of his grasp. I don't deal with fear well. "This isn't a ghost like the ones in Amity Park."

Staring at his empty hands, Danny let out a breath. "This is… something else."

Two voices echoed down the hallway, footsteps falling heavily on the old wood. "Danny? Valerie?"

Danny turned towards the voices, but I kept staring at him. He knew something, I could see it etched on his face, and I also knew that he didn't want to tell me about it. "What was that?" I demanded.

He shot me a look and didn't answer. Tucker and Jazz appeared around a bend in the hallway and hurried towards us. "Hey!" Tucker called out, raising his hand.

"What _was it_?" I asked again.

I was so focused on Danny, I almost missed the silent look that Jazz and Danny traded. "Why did you use the walkie-talkies?" Jazz asked softly.

"We lost them," Danny answered sourly. "Didn't want to go back and get them."

"What happened?" Tucker asked, his gaze flickering between both of us. "I don't suppose you can just be nice and say you saw a ghost."

"We were downstairs," I said when I realized Danny was looking at me, waiting for me to tell the story, "checking out the rooms down there. Danny was… possessed by something." Jazz and Tucker both tensed at that, shooting looks towards Danny. "He attacked me. Wanted to scoop out my brain or drill a hole in my skull or something. We only just managed to get away from whatever it was."

"It's not a ghost like we've ever met before," Danny picked up, his voice quiet, but carrying in the silent hallway. "I'm not even sure it's a ghost. And then Val met something just a few minutes ago."

Somewhere in the distance, a door slammed shut with an angry sound. Both Danny and I flinched, but Tucker and Jazz just exchanged a glance. "We haven't seen hide nor hair of a ghost," Jazz finally admitted. "We were just starting to think this was a creepy place with nothing in it. Sounds like you were having fun."

"Resident ghost magnet," Tucker muttered under his breath.

Danny leveled a glare at Tucker and I just shook my head and said, "We've had enough for one night; we're leaving."

"The RV sounds like a great place," Jazz said with a smile. "We'll go with you – we can play cards."

Danny shrugged. "You'll probably be safe up here without me hanging around."

"Hey!" Tucker cut in. "Don't let us out of the playing cards idea. Besides, there are lots of ghost shields and weapons and stuff in the RV," Tucker added happily. "And no creepy insane asylum."

* * *

The stair well was narrow enough that we had to traverse it single file – Tucker leading and Danny at the rear. We hadn't gotten more than a few steps down when Tucker stopped, bringing everyone to a halt. "What's that?" I heard him whisper.

I tipped my head to the side, listening closely. A set of footsteps, slightly off-beat like the person was limping, coming from the floor beneath us and getting closer. My forehead wrinkled, wondering who it was.

"Mom?" the sharp sound of static accompanied Jazz's voice on the walkie-talkie.

"_What's up sweetheart?" _Mrs. Fenton's voice crackled back.

"Are you two by the stairs that lead up the third floor, by any chance?" Jazz asked. I blinked and looked at her curiously. Of course they were – who else could it be?

_"No, we're in the back kitchens. There's some amazing paranormal activity going on…"_

I stopped listening, leaning over slightly to peer down the steps. The steps turned halfway, doubling back on themselves, so the bottom was out of view. But the sounds of the footsteps were getting louder, clearly audible over the static of the two-way radio. The footsteps hesitated, then there was the distinctive creak as something stepped onto the bottom stair.

Tucker started to back up, forcing Jazz to push me backwards and cause me to bump into Danny. "Back up, back up, back up," Tucker muttered under his breath. "If it's at all related to the one you met in the basement, I don't want to meet it."

_Creak… creak… creak…_

My mind was busy wrapping itself around the idea of meeting the thing from the basement again when a cold hand grabbed at my arm. I gasped, my heart racing, and I twisted around. Danny's eyes were glinting at me in the shadows. "Come on," he mouthed, yanking me quietly up the stairs.

Jazz led the way into the first room she could find, hastily opening the door and glancing inside before pushing us through and closing the door behind her. "We stay until it's gone," she whispered. "And then we leave. Simple as that. No need to panic." She met my eyes for a moment, her pupils wide with barely contained fear. "Right? No need to panic."

I smiled and nodded, seeing the panic in her eyes die down a little. "It's just a ghost, right?" I said softly. But my voice trembled.

When she turned around, I slumped to the floor and listened to the distant, semi-rhythmic creaking of the stairs. I pulled my arm up to study the watch at my wrist and then I scowled and wrapped my arms around my legs. My heart was starting to pound again, my breath hitching uncomfortably in my lungs, and I found my fingers digging painfully into my legs.

_I'm a ghost hunter. But I'm not even sure these things are ghosts!_

I flinched when a hand dropped onto my shoulder. "We'll be fine," Tucker said, settling onto the floor next to me. "Stop looking so scared."

"I'm not scared," I retorted, flicking my hair over my shoulder and sending him a glare, making sure to breathe steadily and calmly.

"Right," he drawled. "You look so 'not scared' it couldn't fool me."

My forehead wrinkled as I tried to puzzle through the logic of that sentence, but then shook my head. "It's just a stupid ghost," I told him with a scowl. "I'm not scared of a ghost."

"If it were just a ghost, you wouldn't be," he replied softly. He stretched out a leg and studied Danny. "You know the only thing that creeps me out about this place?" He waited until I shook my head before continuing. "How pale Danny looks. He doesn't like ghosts at all, but he's pretty good about handling them and he knows a lot more about them then he lets on. I've learned not to worry too much until Danny starts to worry."

I shot him a look out of the corner of my eye. "What makes you think you need to tell me this?"

"Because you just saw some things that scared the crap out of you," he said honestly, "and you look like you did. But I'm saying don't worry too much – between the four of us, we could probably stop the apocalypse if given enough motivation and energy drinks."

I snorted out a half-laugh, shaking my head. "You didn't see it, Tucker. It's not… normal." My gaze was drawn to Danny, how he was standing next to the lone window, staring out into the moonlight. A slight memory of him, the red eyes, the graceful way he moved, flooded into my mind. "You didn't see him."

"I've seen him creepy," Tucker said, very softly, "and I know the nightmares."

I was about to ask what it was about, but Jazz spoke up. "Guys, look at this." Her flashlight was pointed to a spot on the floor, playing the light over a weird, whitish, depressed hollow in the wooden floor. It was the shape of a human figure.

Tucker got to his feet and walked closer. "Freaky," he murmured. "What is it?"

Gazing at the white spot on the floor was making the hairs on my neck stand on end and the nerves in my legs jump and twitch. I tore my eyes off the spot and looked up at Danny. He was staring at the stain with those green sparkles back in his eyes. Suddenly his gaze jumped over to me and he sent me a pale-looking grin, his eyes flashing red just for a split-second.

"Oh, I know," Jazz said softly, "this is where that woman died. I read about this place before we got here. This building closed in 1979 and they transferred all the patients… except one. One woman ran away and they couldn't find her despite all their searching. They came back about six weeks later and found her – dead on the floor with no clothes on. When they carried her body out, it left this imprint in the floor."

"That's creepy-weird," Tucker muttered, crouching down to poke at the white stain.

Danny glanced at him and shook his head. "Don't." His blue eyes glittered in the light for a moment before he went back to studying the window.

Jazz nodded in agreement as Tucker leaned back on his heels. "Remember that story Dad told us a million times on the way here? About the college girl? She touched that spot and she was haunted by the insane woman who died here. The girl eventually committed suicide in her dorm room." Jazz was quiet for a moment. "You want to end up like that, Tucker?"

Shaking his head, Tucker glanced around the empty room before turning his attention towards Danny. "What's so interesting out there anyways?" he wondered.

Danny shrugged, then stiffened.

I caught the vaguest reflection of red eyes in the window and my breath caught in my throat. Cold air was swirling into the room, an incredibly loud footstep creaking the wood right outside the door we were hiding behind. Impossibly dark, chanting sounds started to buzz through the air like bees.

"She died chanting a bunch of spiritual mumbo-jumbo?" Tucker repeated softly.

Jazz nodded, which got both Tucker and I back on our feet, edging towards the far wall. Tucker and Jazz were focused on the door, I was staring at Danny.

The red eyes. The tense way he held his body. The flashes of something else.

"Crap," Tucker muttered, but I couldn't find it inside myself to nod. I had a feeling that what was behind that door wasn't nearly as scary as what was probably already in the room.

I hadn't been imagining anything the past ten minutes.

Something cold grabbed my arm and I flinched, looking down. When my eyes met nothing, I couldn't help the stifled scream.

The two remaining flashlights died, sending the room into darkness, filled by the panicked breathing of three people and a distant, demonic chanting.


	3. The Imprint

_Not really all that new... editing and reworking this ...and continuing it?  
_

_**Warning:** rated 'T' for horror. Don't read late at night. ;)  
_

* * *

**Lopeholt**  
A Danny Phantom FanFic by Cordria

* * *

Chapter 3: The Imprint

* * *

_True fact: _

_The girl who touched the outline on the floor really existed and she did (sadly) die, but from there the line blurs between what is reality and what is a ghost story. She was reportedly haunted by the ghost of the woman from the asylum. One night, her entire dorm room was kept awake by strange chanting and guttural sounds. The next morning, her Resident Assistant entered her room. The girl was dead, one wall smeared with evil-looking, bloody symbols. _

_No matter how many times it was cleaned or how many coats of paint were put on the walls, the blood supposedly kept coming back and students refused to live in it. The abandoned room was eventually turned into a boiler room, the blood-soaked wall physically torn out. _

_The boiler room is reportedly still haunted by a demonic force. _

* * *

_No, not again!_

I felt my heart twist in my chest, my stomach jumping into my throat. The darkness pressed down on us, broken only by the dim moonlight filtering through the small window. "Ghost," I breathed, not liking how my voice creaked. Goosebumps ran up and down my arms and the temperature of the room started to plummet.

"D-danny?" came a soft call – it sounded like Tucker. "Can I panic now?"

There was the sound of a zipper running, then a _click_ and the distinctive whine of an ectoweapon charging. An eerie green started to glow from the far side of the room, barely illuminating the form of Jazz, holding the small, glowing weapon pointed towards the ground. "Who's there?" Jazz called out.

The dark chanting filling the room grew louder, swirling into my head. I pressed my hands to my ears, closing my eyes, a sharp headache starting to form. Fear was almost literally jabbing itself through my skull and my body was nearly vibrating with the desire to panic and run. _Why am I so afraid?_

"The sound!" someone yelled. I pressed my hands closer to my head, feeling my hands shaking. "The sound is messing with your head! _VALERIE_!"

Two arms grabbed me and I screamed, flailing out. My hands pushed against something and my eyes opened, catching sight of Tucker picking himself off the ground trying to grab me again.

"Valerie," he said, his voice near my ear. "It's the sounds – it's making you panic."

"No…" I whispered, my whole body shaking. Over Tucker's shoulder I caught sight of two red eyes. They were shining in the darkness, focused on the form of Jazz, moving slowly towards her. "NO!" I called out, pushing Tucker out of the way. "JAZZ!"

The girl looked towards me, but I was already moving across the room. I barreled into her, knocking her into a wall, and grabbed for her primed ectogun. "What are you doing?" she yelped.

Sounds were still pressing into my head, making the room seem to tip crazily. "GET BACK!" I screamed, twirling around and focusing on the red eyes in the room. My shaking hands pointed the gun towards them, swallowing hard to try to keep my stomach out of my throat. "STOP IT!"

"Valerie," Jazz shouted, her longer arms allowing her to reach for the gun, "that's Danny!"

"He's not Danny," I whispered. "He's not. He's that monster. He's still possessed. Look at his eyes."

I felt Jazz hesitate, but she wrenched the ectogun from my hands and spun me around. "No, he's not. It's the sounds, Valerie. They're affecting your mind."

"No they're not," I snapped, taking a step backwards, feeling the ground lurch under my feet. Something brushed against my neck and I twisted around, trying to look everywhere at once.

The room still contained just the four of us – Tucker on the ground with his hands on the white imprint, Jazz behind me, and Danny by the window. The red eyes were nowhere to be seen and the ghostly footsteps were gone. The room was still twisting around, the walls seeming to recede and press in closer.

Confusion pressed in on me. Everyone was staring at me, looking so confused. _Is it all in my head_? The demonic sounds howled in my head, making me close my eyes and press my palms to my temples. _I want to leave!_

"I want out," I whispered. "I want out! _Let me OUT!"_

I raced to the door, grabbing the doorknob and twisting it harshly. It didn't budge. "It's locked, it's locked," I hissed, yanking on and again and again. On the fourth or fifth desperate yank, the doorknob came off, sending me tumbling to the ground.

"Calm down," Jazz said, holding out her hands and stepping closer. "Valerie!"

"_LET ME OUT_!" I screamed, rolling onto my back and kicking out with my feet, letting them connect solidly with the door.

The door flew open in a blast of cold air just as two freezing hands grabbed my shoulders and pulled me backwards away from the door. I stared into the dark hallway for a heartbeat – seeing nothing – before tipping my head back to see who'd grabbed me.

Bright green eyes gleamed at me under a messy head of white hair. The pale face was twisted in concentration, his forehead wrinkled in something that looked like pain. "Phantom," I breathed.

"Run, Valerie," he whispered, bloody red curling through his eyes for a moment before completely whipping out the green. The tense frown he'd sported evaporated into an insane grin, and one of his hands left my shoulder to trace my cheek. "Oh yes, run, huntress. You're no fun to _save_ when you're standing still."

"What?" I whispered, wincing as a dark howl slashed into my head.

Phantom's finger trailed up to my temple and tapped a few times. "I'll drill right here, I will. I'll save you from the sounds, the dark, the fears, those ghosts that haunt your dreams…"

Someone moved in my peripheral vision, but I couldn't move. I couldn't tear my eyes off of the gleaming rubies of Phantom's eyes. Confusion was making the terror in my mind double its power, pinning me in place. _How did Phantom get here? Where did he come from? Why is he talking like Danny? What's going on?_

The figure I'd seen moving suddenly slammed into Phantom's side, knocking him off me. For a split-second, I saw Jazz's pale face, then she was gone, wrestling Phantom to the floor and screaming for Danny.

I pushed myself off the floor and spotted the gun that Jazz had dropped when she'd tackled Phantom. I scrambled for it, startled when a dark-skinned hand grabbed it before I had a chance. "Tucker," I hissed, "hand it over."

He grinned at me, his jade-colored eyes swirling with a sunset red. "Make me," he whispered.

"Tucker?" I pushed away from him, barely aware of the scuffle on the floor behind me.

The African-American boy stood up, brazenly standing on the white imprint staining the floor. "Run, hunter-girl," he said with a chuckle, his words appearing in puffs of mist, holding the gun in both hands and aiming it in my direction. The demonic sounds cutting into my brain seemed to echo his words and his laughter.

"Yes," came an echoing voice from behind me, "run, Huntress. I'll save you."

Glancing over my shoulder at Phantom, noticing Jazz scrambling for the door, I swallowed hard. My hands were shaking, my palms were sweating, and shivers were wracking my whole body. Phantom was on one side, Tucker on the other, and the only coherent thought still curling through my brain was _get away_.

I screamed and raced straight forwards – towards the window – and leapt into the air. An ectoblast sliced through the air inches from my head, shattering the window, and I activated my jetsled. It formed under my feet even as the glass from the window was falling through the air, and I brought my arms up to protect my face as I few out into the night sky.

The cold air above the asylum did a few good things. The first was that it cleared the fog of terror from my brain, washing the last of the dark sounds of the room into memory. I pulled my jetsled to a stop about a hundred feet above the roof of the building and dropped down to sit.

Deep breaths were coming in and out of my lungs, slowly working to calm my heart and stop the way my body was shaking. Finally I looked down at the building I'd just left, my eyes quickly finding the room with the broken window.

A dark shadow with red eyes was staring up at me, a white-haired woman in a white robe standing behind the shadow, her hands resting on the dark figure's shoulders. Her soulless eyes were gazing up at me, her hair billowing softly in a supernatural breeze.

"I should go back for Jazz," I whispered to myself. "And Tucker, and Danny, and…"

I didn't move.

I'd never felt as frightened as I had in that room. It had seemed to vibrate deep into my heart and ring something inside of me. I had every intention of saving my friends, of going back, but my body over-rode my decision.

"Damnit." My head dropped to my chest and I scowled, furious with myself. I was _Valerie Grey_. I was the _Red Huntress_. I shouldn't be afraid of a ghost. But I was.

"I've got to do something," I hissed, slowly getting to my feet. "Get the Fentons. Maybe they'll know what to do."

I was just about to step on the controls, head back towards the ground, when something strange caught my gaze. There was a haunting green fog in the air near the asylum. I traced it with my eyes, surprised to see it formed into a perfectly straight line that stretched into the distance. "What the-"

Two red eyes were suddenly right in front of me. "I'm going to save you," Phantom hissed. His hair was glowing in the moonlight, the soft light glinting off a piece of rusted metal he was holding in his hand. "Hold still."

A startled sound worked out of my lips, but I was already moving. Fighting Phantom was something I'd done regularly for over a year – reflexes took over. My foot edged slightly forwards, cutting power to the sled. The jets fell into silence and I dropped towards the dark Earth like a rock.

My stomach was clenching and trying to jump into my throat from the abrupt descent when I looked up, watching him watch me fall. He threw his head back and laughed, then dived after me, bloody-red power swirling around him. "Save you, I'll save you, you'll be safe, I'll save you," he chanted.

"Stay away from me!" I snapped, tearing my eyes off of him and activating the jets on my sled. It sent me into an almost-controlled spiral, swirling off into the night sky. I glanced over my shoulder to watch Phantom correct his dive to follow me. He raised a hand, power starting to gather around it.

_I can't win like this. _I cut hard to the right, watching an insanely-powerful ectoblast slice through the air inches from where my head had just been. Out here, in the sky, away from the noises that had trapped my mind, I was finally able to think and move like I needed to.

A grim smile appeared on my face. _Huntress against Phantom, just like last time_. I slammed on the breaks, cutting left, and used the moment I'd bought myself to activate the rest of my suit. It appeared around me with the cold sensation of a hundred spiders crawling over my skin.

The Ridges asylum flickered into view, the broken window appearing before my eyes as I twisted and twirled in the air, trying to get a bead on Phantom. The woman and the shadow were gone, but I got too close. Soft chanting started to curl up into my head and I had to swerve and race in the other direction. "I can't get near it," I breathed.

Phantom barrel-rolled, sliding in front of me, red energy dancing around his hands. I moved my heel, feeling it touch the right button. Twin cubes appeared in the air above my shoulders and a quick gesture with my hands had them blasting energy towards Phantom.

He smirked as he dodged, the energy blast he'd been building up dissipating with his sudden movement. "Hold still!" he called out, laughing, twirling oddly and rapidly closing the distance between us.

Cursing, I snapped my jetsled in a new direction and fired the jets on their maximum setting and tried to put as much distance between Phantom and myself that I could. I twirled the cubes around and sent them blasting blindly behind me, hoping desperately that that I'd hit him at least once.

I glanced over my shoulder; Phantom was gone. I pulled to a stop, my breathing harsh and loud in my ears as I looked around, trying to spot him. My watch beeped. Looking down in surprise – this was the first time it had gone off all night – I completely missed Phantom dissolving into existence only feet away.

His wiry form crashed into mine, his powerful, gloved fingers wrenching at my helmet. "I'm going to save you from the dark and the fear, girl," he whispered as his fingers found purchase under my helmet and yanked it off my head. "I'll drill a hole into your pretty temple and you'll be safe. Saved."

"Leave me alone!" I shrieked, sending my jetsled into a crazy spiral, not knowing or really caring where it was heading. "Get off of me!"

Suddenly the world came to a grinding halt as I slammed into something extremely hard. I had only a split second to comprehend that I'd hit the ground and that my leg hurt _very_ much before my world went black.

* * *

My arms were being yanked out of their sockets when I blinked myself out of the darkness. I screamed in pain and pulled on my arms, struggling against whatever had me in its grasp. "LET GO!"

"Stop it," came a breathless voice, a body pressing mine into the ground and trying to hold me still. "Valerie, stop. It's me."

My eyes flickered open and I gasped, gazing up into Jazz's eyes. "Jazz."

She let out a breath and rolled off me. "Can you walk?" she hissed.

Nodding, I rolled to my hands and knees, but couldn't make it any further. I stared down at my left leg, noting how it was bent very oddly. "No," I corrected with a groan of pain. My arms hurt, my head hurt, and now the obvious-broken leg _burned_ with pain.

"I figured," she hissed, pushing her shoulder under mine and wrenching me to my feet, taking the weight off my broken leg. "You hit the ground really hard."

"Where's Danny and Tucker?"

She shook her head, breathing hard as she started moving through the darkness, forcing me to hobble along. "Danny is… and Tucker…"

"We need to go back for Danny," I said, pain flaring up my spine and bursting in my head like fireworks with every step. The RV appeared through the shadows, large and safe-looking.

"Um…" she said, picking up the pace. "About that." She reached out and clicked open the side door, helping me inside before climbing in herself. I sank gratefully to the ground as she started flipping switches and a familiar hum began to vibrate through the RV. "Alright, that's every anti-ghost device I know how to activate.

I pressed my back against one of the walls of the RV and groaned. "What happened?"

"I think Tucker and Danny are possessed," she said softly. "Tucker when he got pushed onto that white imprint-"

"And Danny from the basement," I finished, closing my eyes. "What do we do?"

Jazz shook her head silently, still moving around the small RV. "For now, we're safe in here until we figure out what to do."

"Safe," I repeated softly, watching as Jazz grabbed a while box out from under a seat and rustled through it, pulling out medical supplies. "What about your parents?"

She froze just for a moment, but then kept moving. "I lost the walkie-talkie," she admitted after a moment, "but they're some of the best ghost hunters in the world – they'll be fine." When she turned to me and knelt down beside my broken leg, bandages in her hands, her eyes were wet with tears and her hands were shaking slightly. Then she repeated, almost to herself, "They'll be fine."


End file.
